


Just Between Friends

by DixieDale



Series: The Life and Times of One Peter Newkirk [44]
Category: Clan O'Donnell - Fandom, Hogan's Heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 10:18:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14830419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DixieDale/pseuds/DixieDale
Summary: They all knew Andrew rarely stopped talking when he was with them.  Who knew he continued the practice when he was with his other friends?  What did he talk about?  Well, Angie and the others will never tell, but boy if they would!!!





	Just Between Friends

It was one of those rare times when Andrew was on his own. Peter and Caeide were handling the Vincent booth, Maude busy in the stillroom, Marisol working with getting that bushel of apples ready to dry. He'd offered to help both the ladies, but they had just smiled and told him, "you go have yourself a bit of time to yourself, Andrew. You'll not get the chance again anytime soon, most likely, with the rest of the orchard to deal with in another couple of days."

So, he'd fixed himself a picnic lunch, making sure to add in some special things for his friends, and hied himself off to that little clearing next to the pond. Maude called to Marisol, "take a look there, Mari. Now there's a sight," and the two of them had shared a fond laugh. Well, it had been an amusing if rather pretty sight, Andrew in the lead with the picnic basket, Angie walking beside him, the two of them being followed by Estelle, Charlie and Lucy in close formation.

Lunch had been eaten, treats passed around and enjoyed, and Andrew spent a little time in cloud-watching. Then, looking around once more, taking in the sparkling water, the green grass, the orchards in the distance, the cliffs, the faint glimpse of the ocean, the sheep and horses in the pasture, the far distant view of the house and outbuildings, he just couldn't contain himself any more.

"Did you ever just sit and think about how lucky you are, Angie? I mean, to have lived here right from the start? You too, of course, Estelle, though Caeide says you weren't actually born here, but got here when you were still real young. I think about that sometimes, you know, well, more than sometimes, really a lot. About how lucky I am, I mean." He sighed a huge sigh of contentment, stretched and wriggled to get in a better position.

"I always kinda figured I'd end up working in Mr. Perkins drugstore til, well, forever. I'd hoped I'd still live at the house and have Mom with me, and have a place for some pets, but other than that, I never really thought much about the future. I know I told the guys about Mary Jane and how she was my girlfriend and all, but between you and me, I never really thought we'd ever get married or anything. I think she just didn't want to be the only girl in her class not to have a boyfriend, and I was getting tired of being teased about not having a girlfriend, and well, it was just kinda like friends doing each other a favor. Not that I would have minded having a girlfriend, you understand, but the girls all wanted to go out with the guys who were on the football team, or whose family had money, or the guys who really good-looking, and let's face it, none of that was me." He looked over at Angie, who gave him a sympathetic nod and made a low sound in her throat.

"Going away to war, well, it changed everything. Well, not just for me, of course, for everyone. But I found out that that uniform made up some for not being good-looking or rich or coordinated, and there were girls, women who didn't mind so much being around me. In fact, there were a couple who seemed to kinda like that, liked knowing more.

There was this one, well, I have to tell you, even though I'd sneaked a copy of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' and thought I knew everything there was to know, well, she knew a heck of a lot more, and didn't mind teaching me, her and one of her girlfriends. Wow!

I never told any of that to the guys; it was more fun having them think of me like they did; you know how many times one or the other of them started to explain about 'the birds and the bees'? It was really funny watching how much of a mess they made of it! And I never really understood that anyway; I mean, birds never seemed to come up in the explanations at all, not without making a real stretch, and with the bees, it was flowers. You'd think they'd have been embarrassed - I mean, that's like two, well if you leave the birds in, three entirely different species!

I did get them going sometimes; I remember one time with Kinch, he went through this whole rigamarle about bees and flowers and pollination and he actually did pretty good shifting over to girls and guys, til I put this really puzzled look on my face and asked him, "but what about chickens? I never did totally understand about chickens. And cats. Though that must be kinda handy, it'd sure make riding a bicycle a lot easier!" You shoulda seen his face, guys, and Peter, well, you know that look he gets sometimes, like someone just hit him on the back of the head with a brick??!

Of course, it's kinda funny too when you think of the Library up at the house; 'Lady Chatterley' didn't have a clue, you know??! Well, I didn't have much of a one, either, not about some stuff, just what I picked up by accident. Yeah, a country boy, you'd think I knew a lot, and I did, I mean the mechanics. People tend to forgot there's a lot of similarities. But once you got past that, the things that are the same, I mean, the same with people as with horses or cows or dogs, there's just a whole lot more that I never knew about! You guys don't tend to, well, complicate things as much as humans do, and I still haven't figured out if that's good or bad. Some of those complications aren't so much fun, but some of them really are, so I guess I'm kinda torn." Somehow in the midst of all of this talking Duggan had found them, and settled down nearby to listen.

A wide grin crossed his face, "boy, that library! Did I ever tell you about that little wooden cabinet? The one Caeide calls the 'trinket cabinet'? It's got stuff in there I STILL don't know what you're supposed to use it for! Caeide gets a real funny look on her face sometimes when I ask her about something in there, but I can tell she's really trying to give me the best answer she can.

Sometimes I think it's a little sad; I mean, I think Caeide was so busy trying to be 'responsible', trying to make a home here, build a safe place, she kinda forgot how to play. I'm working on that, I really am, and Peter too, but we learned we gotta be a little careful; we really messed up awhile back, but she forgave us. Caeide's like that, you know; if she really loves you, she doesn't usually get mad when you do something dumb, and even if she does, she just can't stay mad.

Peter, well, sometimes he gets a real funny look on his face when she's explaining things I've brought her or asked her about, and sometimes he remembers he forgot to take the tea kettle off or something and he leaves real quick. It's funny; I remember those letters from Coura where she said Peter is a little 'conservative', and I think she's right!

But Caeide says the library and that cabinet, well, it was put together over a really, really long time, by a whole bunch of different people, and while she'd browsed through the library, cause that's not all it's got in it, of course, the cabinet just never caught her attention. Says she was too busy working eighteen, twenty hours a day most of the time to even think of something like that, wouldn't have had the energy even if she had; well, and without Peter here, I figure she wouldn't have had the heart to think about any of that anyway. I told her that was okay; I'd be sure to let her know if I found anything I thought she might really find interesting.

I never found out if she was pleased about that, cause Peter got strangled on his drink, and by the time we got him breathing right again, somehow we were talking about moving the sheep for the season." Angie tossed her head, giving a loud whinney. "Yeah, I think so too," Andrew snickered.

"But that's part of what I meant by you two being lucky, cause now I'm lucky too, and so are Charlie and Lucy, cause this is our home now too. You two maybe don't know, but out there, with what Caeide and her family call the Outlanders? Well, here there are people to love, people who love you back; it's not always that way, out there. I mean, back home, I had Mom and Jase, and before that Dad and some of my other family, but then it was only Mom and Jase, then not even them.

Oh, I'm not forgetting you, Charlie, or you Lucy, you know that; I always loved hugging and patting both of you, you rubbing up against me and giving me wet kisses. But, it's nice to have someone, well, someone like yourself who can kiss you or hug you, and you want to do the same, and they're happy when you do. Well, yeah, sometimes a lot more than that, with Caeide and Peter, but it's the same idea, you know. But they LIKE it, and so do I, and that makes ALL of us lucky."

"So, I'm lucky - I have all of you, and Angus and the other horses, and Duggan, and all the others, the ones Peter calls the 'four-footed ones and the two-footed ones' too. But I have Maudie, and I have Marisol, and Reverend Miles, and a whole bunch more."

He sighed again, "and I have Peter and Caeide. Sometimes, guys, I think I have to be the luckiest guy in the whole world!"

**

Peter and Caeide stood quietly looking down at the still figure asleep in the grass, surrounded by a chestnut mare, two dogs, a cat, and one ram placidly chomping grass.

"Look at that smile on his face, Caeide. Wonder what he's dreaming about," Peter murmured.

"Don't know, love, but it must be something pleasant. Best rouse him up; it's almost time to get washed up for dinner. Come along, you lot, you need to get back as well," motioning to the various animals scattered about. "And Duggan, aren't you supposed to be in the far pasture?" A smug look was the only answer she got from the ram, and nothing other than what she'd expected. 

"So did you have a pleasant outing, Andrew, you and your friends," Maudie asked, getting an enthusiastic nod in response, his mouth rather full of fried chicken to do much answering otherwise. "And what did you talk to the lot of them about? I know I've seen you chattering at them before."

Andrew grinned and a light blush came to his face, "oh, you know. Just things. Angie did most of the talking, you know how she is." One thing he knew, Angie could keep secrets, she'd never tell.


End file.
